Hiding In The Shadows
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: Try all they want, they never truly get any privacy... but when someone starts attacking everyone on the NXT and main rosters, who is it and why?
1. Danger Around Every Turn

_**10/14/15, NXT Taping, half hour ago…**_

" _This tag match has been all Cena and Balor from the beginning-" Byron Saxton says, being cut off… but not by Corey or Tom._

 _Amanda was launched off the ring apron by a mistimed kick from Murphy and fell, her face and left shoulder hitting hard against the steps… immediately, Finn scrambled to the woman that for nearly a year had been his Demon Mistress, his left hand resting on the right side of her face before he tied his Balor Club shirt to the wound in her left shoulder._

" _Oh damn, that was a hell of a shot to Mandy…" Corey said, genuinely startled._

 _Finn helped Amanda up and the two whispered back and forth, Amanda attempting to distract him and take him to the backstage area to calm him down… but then Finn had charged into the ring and attacked Murphy, Alexa yelling at him to stop._

 _Murphy yelled in pain when his right shoulder snapped out of its socket and Amanda was dragging an infuriated Finn from the ring and up the ramp._

" _Calm down." Amanda whispered._

" _He caused you to hit your head and shoulder!" Finn growled, examining Amanda's face again and he saw a bruise forming under her left eye before checking her shoulder._

 _It was after she had been fixed up and decided to clear her mind after reassuring Finn that she'd be okay, Amanda was accosted by Alexa._

" _Get him under control, damn it!" Alexa growled._

" _Why would it matter to you? How can I be faulted for overprotective friends, it was your boyfriend who kicked me in the face!" Amanda snapped at a seething Alexa. "You noticed that Finn can be overprotective, why didn't you shout at Murphy to stop what he was doing?"_

" _Why would I? And yes, I have noticed that the Demon King is damn near possessive of you!" Alexa says._

" _Possessive is going too far in describing things! Why is it any of your concern? Mine and Finn's closeness doesn't affect you one little bit." Amanda said, turning to leave but Alexa stopped her._

" _And yet it caused him to flip out, didn't it?! If you two weren't 'close', personal things wouldn't have made him put Murphy on a fucking stretcher!" Alexa snarled, pale blue eyes narrowed at Amanda._

" _Ain't my fault you picked a man with a raging temper… now unless you want to lose that hand, shove off." Amanda says._

 _Alexa backed up and Amanda left, walking into her and Finn's locker room… it was easy to see he was still angry so she was careful when she rested her right hand on his left shoulder and he reached his right arm over and squeezed her hand._

" _It's okay, Finn…" Amanda whispered as he turned around, pulling her to him after wrapping his right arm around her back and lightly kissing her on her head as his left hand rested on Amanda's face._

 _He still had a bit of red coloring in his face from the leftover anger... and he could tell from Amanda's shaking body that Alexa and Murphy had set the part in the match up and didn't tell anyone._

" _You've been through enough with life threatening neurological issues, I don't want it happening again…" Finn whispered, his right hand running along Amanda's back._

" _They think we're too close for their comfort…" Amanda whispered as they looked at each other._

" _And it's driving them crazy." Finn says, still hanging onto Amanda even as they sat down on the couch._

 _They liked it better when it was just the two of them around and they could think clearly without the others constantly barging in or driving them crazy._

 _But sometimes it seemed like they never got enough privacy…_

 **Present time…**

"You look so damn tired…" Finn said after helping Amanda up, both of their duffel bags on his right shoulder.

"We're both exhausted…" Amanda says, only managing to zip her Balor Club hoodie halfway because of the twenty stitches in her left shoulder... it was why she had skipped washing her hair during her shower earlier, the pain hit her too fast.

The shoulder and eye injuries were far removed from the worst ones she had suffered in her career but they still had Finn worried… it was hard not to worry about her much like she tried not to worry about him during matches.

"Let's head on home…" Finn whispered, his left arm wrapping around Amanda's back this time instead of her shoulders and her leaning against him before they left their locker room.

Outside waited excited fans and a swarm of press, the two were familiar with that as Finn shielded Amanda from the press after they signed autographs for fans.

But they were unaware of the figure in the distance watching them as they headed to the car...


	2. Nothing Stays Secret

_**1/23/15…**_

 _Tyson Kidd gave the WWE Performance Centre a last glance over for the day before heading towards the doors to go meet up with his wife._

 _But he stopped short… in the ring was Amanda, who he guessed was getting ready for the upcoming Royal Rumble pay per view._

 _But just who he saw her with in that ring set off alarms in his mind as Finn was on his back with Amanda having him pinned down like she was straddling him._

" _At some point, you'll have to toss me off you… or are you comfortable like this?" Amanda says, the last part jokingly and her and Finn laughing._

 _It was bantering back and forth between two friends, Tyson knew that… but the last part was open to interpretation and it struck a nerve with Tyson so he walked over._

" _Oh hey there." Amanda says after seeing him, a smile on her face._

" _I think he'd be more comfortable if it were you on your back with him on top of you… I mean come on, are you really gonna ignore what the other divas have been saying about him, Mandy?" Tyson responded, Amanda standing up and helping Finn up._

" _Why are you doing this, TJ?" Amanda asked, calling him by her nickname for him._

" _Why am I doing this? So you don't end up as another notch on his-" Tyson says, screaming when Finn ran at him and hit him with a corner dropkick before standing up and turning to Amanda._

 _Finn brought his hands up and rested them on Amanda's face as she shook with rage at Tyson's hateful words, Tyson standing up and glaring at them._

" _You know one day… you both are gonna be at a really happy time in your lives. And then it's gonna get snatched from you." Tyson says threateningly before leaving, Amanda flipping him off as he disappeared out the door._

" _Good fucking riddance." Amanda muttered, Finn pulling her into his arms and the two hugging._

" _He'll calm down, love… everything will be okay." Finn whispered, kissing Amanda on the side of her head._

 _But Amanda wasn't so sure things would be okay…_

 **Present time…**

The deep sleep Amanda was in wasn't entirely by choice, it was out of pure exhaustion… it was an on and off feeling she had been used to since she was 15 but it still unsettled those around her.

Out of habit, Finn was watching her sleep… he had done that after her left kidney was injured last November and after she had fallen off the bar in Tokyo in July.

Amanda's eyes fluttered open, her rubbing them with her right hand before she looked at Finn as he brushed her hair out of her face.

"Normally, I'm the restless one… what's bugging at ya, Finn?" Amanda questioned, carefully moving her stitched up shoulder so the muscles in them wouldn't get too stiff.

"Something felt off… when we were leaving earlier, I saw someone watching us. I didn't want to scare you, Mandy, that's why I didn't say anything." Finn responded, his right hand lightly massaging Amanda's upper left arm.

"Watching… like a shark would watch its prey?" Amanda asked.

"Damn accurate choice of words… which is why I held you closer to me tonight." Finn said as he rested his right hand on the back of Amanda's neck, lightly running his fingers through her disheveled hair.

Their phones chimed and both groaned sleepily, looking at them… and seeing the text from Hunter.

' _I'd really hate to drag you from your sleep but there was an incident, I need you both to get down to Florida Hospital ER immediately.'_

"Damn, that's a bad sign." Amanda said as Finn helped her stand up, thankful that her oversized navy tank top unbuttoned in the front. She unbuttoned it, slipped it off and slipped a strapless bra on before putting the top back on and buttoning it, readjusting her leggings as she slipped her sandals on and pulled her hair into a messy bun while Finn had changed into some clothes.

At the ER after Amanda had pulled on her Balor Club hoodie and zipped it up halfway, the two reached Hunter.

"You guys aren't gonna like this one bit…" Hunter said as the curtain to the nearby triage room was pulled open… Amanda reeled back in horror as she saw a bruised and bleeding Alexa.

Alexa had identical injuries to Amanda… but the one twist was that Alexa's left arm was broken.

"You…" Alexa growled, eyes narrowed at Amanda.

"Lexa, she didn't do it. She's been with me since we left the arena." Finn said, trying to diffuse the situation.

"You're lying, jumping to defend your little fuckbuddy!" Alexa yelled.

"Alexa, you're not coherent now, you're traumatized! You-" Amanda said as she tried to stay calm, her and Finn ducking when Alexa threw a scalpel at them and Murphy trying to calm her.

"This was a bad idea, just…" Hunter said, trailing off and leading them out of the room.

It was back at the apartment that Amanda slipped out of her clothes and into into a Balor Club shirt as Finn stripped down to his boxers and both curled up into the bed.

"I don't know what to make of any of this… Alexa could've been killed tonight and…" Amanda said as Finn reached over and brushed some stray curls out of Amanda's face.

"Whoever it was, they hurt her badly… I think she might be too intimidated to tell anyone who it really was that hurt her, lass. What freaks me out is two of her injuries mirroring yours and then the attacker just snapping her arm." Finn said as Amanda curled her head onto his shoulder and he lightly ran his right hand along her back.

It took some time for them to fall asleep after that.

Amanda didn't want to open her eyes, it was instinct to because she had been used to early alarms… but she found that under her right ear, she could hear Finn's heart beating and realised that she hadn't used her pillow much.

Amanda was about to sit up but out of his instinct, Finn's arms tightened around her.

"You're not gonna let me get up just yet, are you?" Amanda asked quietly.

"Nu-uh." Finn muttered by her ear, pulling her gently back down.

Amanda rested her head on Finn's torso again and closed her eyes, Finn lightly kissing her on her forehead before closing his own eyes.

He had become rather protective of her lately… and that was what set off alarms with the others around them.


	3. Tension

_**A month earlier…**_

" _He's here… this'll make things interesting for the battle royal later." Baron says, noticing the bandage on Amanda's head. "What the hell happened?!" He asked._

" _I slipped and fell… unfortunately, I was heading upstairs when it happened." Amanda says, absentmindedly tugging on the lace band on her upper left leg. "You mentioned my former Shield team mate, where the hell is he?" She asked after turning to Hunter._

" _I think he headed off to the gym area… usually does to relieve a stress or shock." Hunter answered._

 _Amanda left and disappeared into the hall, unable to keep it in anymore._

 _In the gym, Amanda found Seth and Enzo… and Enzo noticed the look in her eyes, turning to Seth._

" _Good luck." Enzo says before leaving, Seth turning to Amanda._

" _Really? You couldn't tell me how you felt about the character changes so you went to Hunter? Why?" Amanda asked._

" _Maybe because he's the one who can change it?" Seth said sarcastically._

" _I'm not gonna go back to acting like Dean does, being called Mrs. Lunatic Fringe was a bit startling… and despite your suggestion, no, I don't think we can make The Shield work as a group again. I have no problem with the Demon Mistress character, she and I are different people, Seth! Why don't you see that?!" Amanda says, nearly shouting._

" _What I see is you distancing yourself from me, I always thought Dean took the split harder but you immediately sided with Finn just to comfort your bruised pride!" Seth yelled, a stinging slap being Amanda's response._

 _Nearby was Alexa, who looked at Emma and Eva Marie._

" _This had been building a long time…" Emma whispered, Eva walking over and trying to diffuse the situation._

" _Just… calm down." Eva says, lightly pulling Amanda away before looking at Seth. "Don't you see what your possessiveness does to her, Seth? She's your friend."_

" _He doesn't see me like that anymore, Eva…" Amanda says before leaving._

 _It was at the same time that Finn had_ _reached the area… and caught Amanda by her arms as she almost crashed into him, tears running down her face._

" _What happened, love?" Finn asked, brushing Amanda's tears away._

" _He wouldn't admit it… vocally, at least. I honestly think I lost Seth a_ _long time ago…" Amanda says, trying to stay calm as Finn's hands rubbed_ _up and down her arms before they_ _rested on her wrists and then her back before the two hugged._

 **Present time...**

"I've never seen anyone _that_ clingy!"

"Where have you been these past few years with how Seth has acted to her?!"

Amanda and Finn opened their eyes, rubbing them… and seeing Dean and Roman.

"You two are relentless." Amanda muttered as she and Finn sat up after letting go, Amanda letting her hair out of its bun and readjusting it into a ponytail… she hissed slightly as the stitches dug into her skin, Finn lightly rubbing his hand up and down her back.

"No more standing near the steps." Dean says.

"It was an accident, Dean." Amanda said as she tried to keep her eyes open, Dean's phone ringing.

"Hey, how is she?" Hunter asked.

"How the hell did you know I was headed this way?! And I wouldn't normally ask but how's Alexa, is she still trying to pin this on Mandy?" Dean asked.

"Yep. Look, I want you all to stick together in small groups…" Hunter said, Amanda looking up as Dean put the phone on speaker and held it out.

"I know that tone… who else did you call, Hunter? The cops?" Amanda asked.

"No… they're more of a secret service, kiddo." Hunter answered.

"Spies?" Amanda questioned.

"How did you even find this number?" Roman asks.

"They recruit young kids… Shawn left this number behind when they tried to recruit Cameron and Cheyenne." Hunter said.

"Cameron just turned 15, Cheyenne's only 11…" Amanda says. "What secret service recruits kids, did they leave a name?"

"Cherub, a sub-branch of the British MI5 was all they left." Hunter answered.

"If they can catch whoever's doing this, we've all gotta start from the beginning. Start questioning some of the others, find out if they've seen anything weird." Finn says, helping Amanda stand up.

Amanda grabbed her phone and headed downstairs, dialing John's number and John answering.

"Hey, kiddo." John says.

"Hey… when you and Nikki were leaving Raw on Monday night, did you see anyone following you besides the fans?" Amanda asked.

"Just for a second… when I turned back around, the person was gone. Why?" John answered.

"It could've been the same person that attacked Alexa… Hunter's calling some people to try to handle this. Just be careful, okay? You, Nikki, Brie and Daniel." Amanda said, cautiously moving her left arm.

"Of course we will… you take care yourself too." John said.

"I'll try… still can't move my arm all that much." Amanda says.

"That was a bad fall, sis. It'll heal." John said before they hung up.

"I hope so…" Amanda said to herself before she heard footsteps and spun around quickly, relaxing when she saw Finn. "I really shouldn't be so jumpy…" She says as they sit down on the couch and he rolled the left sleeve of the shirt up, seeing that the skin around the stitches was red but not alarmingly so.

At the same time across the Atlantic ocean and all the way in England, Lauren heard her phone ring and answered it.

"I wouldn't call if it wasn't an emergency but I don't know if the local authorities can handle this." Hunter said, Lauren glancing at the laptop and seeing the reports of the incident in Orlando… before pulling up CCTV camera footage.

"Whoever it is, they're taller than 5'1" but not by much… and it looks like she didn't see them at first." Lauren said, flinching when she saw the attacker snap Alexa's arm before turning to the camera.

"Masked?" Hunter asks.

"Yep…" Lauren says, zooming in and clearing up the footage a bit. "Hold on, it looks like there's blood that's stained into the wristband. Right into the Balor Club logo."

"Mandy took hers off after the match…" Hunter said.

"And I don't think she'd put it back on a badly injured arm… someone's been watching you all too closely, you bet your ass we're on our way there." Lauren says.

"Thanks, L." Hunter said before they hung up.

Back in Orlando, Amanda and Finn were stretched out on the couch, a blanket over Amanda and Finn having put some pajamas back on as they watched _Miami Vice_ , the episode being _Calderone's Demise_.

Glancing at them from the kitchen was Dean… until Roman nudged him as a way of getting him to back down before Dean saw a text from Seth.

' _Where the hell are you guys?'_

' _Lying low, let's just leave it at that.'_ Dean replied.

"He's not gonna believe that one bit, Deano." Amanda said.

"I know, Mandy." Dean says, putting his phone away.

He just hoped that Seth wouldn't do anything drastic again.


	4. Watch Your Surroundings

**A few hours later…**

On a plane, Lauren, Rat, Kerry and Kyle were settled in and Kyle was watching last night's episode of NXT.

"How many times are you gonna keep watching that match?" Rat questioned.

"Just looking for anything…" Kyle answered, pausing and zooming in closer… looking at the video, Kerry could see that Alexa had been whispering to Murphy.

"Out of the ordinary…" Kerry says quietly, Lauren and Rat heading over to them.

"This kind of business, tempers are gonna flare… the injuries caused to Amanda were plotted in advance and she never saw it coming." Rat said.

"She never saw it coming, Finn didn't either… so his reaction to attack Murphy is out of a protective instinct to Amanda." Lauren replied, putting it together.

"You think it's more than a co-worker looking out for another one, just how close are these two? They don't look like they're at the point of being lovers yet… but it's more than simple friendship." Kerry said.

"It makes me wonder who else this stalker could attack though… maybe they feel wronged in some way." Kyle says, pulling up another CCTV camera from Full Sail University.

"Zoom in…" Lauren said when she noticed something off, Kyle zooming in and seeing that Bayley was in an argument with Alexa and enhanced the audio.

" _Why would it matter to you? She needs someone good in her life after being kicked around!"_

" _Kicked around? So some guys got a bit stupid towards her, so what?!"_

"I noticed bruises on Amanda's right shoulder, about a few days old… but a larger hand print than either Bayley or Alexa." Kyle said.

"Wait a minute…" Lauren said, finding a camera from one of the hotels back on the ninth… in the fifth floor hallway, she saw it and turned angry at a drunken Seth shaking Amanda by her arms.

"Lauren?" Rat asked, snapping Lauren out of her trance.

"Huh? Oh… Just this." Lauren said, pointing out the footage on her screen.

"Son of a bitch clearly has anger issues…" Kerry said through gritted teeth.

"And she's half his fucking size! What's he thinking, shaking her like that?!" Rat growled, Lauren jumping back when she saw in the video that Finn had shown up and punched Seth before throwing him right into the wall.

"As that old saying goes, pick on someone your own size." Kyle said after a few seconds, Lauren stopping the video… behind Seth, she could see a hooded figure who had been watching.

"I have a bad feeling on who's next…" Lauren said quietly, dialing another number.

Over in Orlando, Seth had gotten out of his rental car and dialed Amanda's number again… and again, he reached her voicemail.

" _Hey, it's Mandy. You know what to do."_

Seth hung up… before his phone rang again and he answered it.

"Hello?" Seth asked.

"You need to get the hell away from wherever you're at!" Lauren answered.

"Who are you and how'd you get this number?!" Seth asked.

"I can't say over the phone, but please, wherever you are get the hell gone!" Lauren said.

Seth ducked back into the car as a tire iron was swung at him, starting the engine as the windshield was smashed in and speeding off. When he was a good distance away, he dialed Dean's number.

"What's going on, Seth, where are ya?" Dean asked.

"Trying not to get bludgeoned to death, someone was swinging at me with a tire iron!" Seth yelled frantically.

"Okay, slow down! Did you see what they looked like?" Dean questioned.

"Not their face, just their body shape. Short and skinny." Seth answered, Dean seeing Amanda glance at him.

"Dean, what happened?" Amanda asked.

"Where the hell are you guys?!" Seth questioned.

"Staying here with me." Finn answered.

The call ended and Seth reached the apartment, Dean letting him in and Seth closing and locking the door.

"You weren't fucking kidding…" Dean said after seeing the smashed in windshield of the Honda.

"I don't know what problem the person had, they just ran up and attacked… just before it I had this strange call, some girl just shouting at me to get out of there." Seth said.

"She'll explain when they get here…" Amanda says, Seth seeing the stitches as Amanda's left shoulder wasn't bandaged because she was letting it breathe. "Whoever this creep is, they also attacked Alexa, gave her similar injuries to mine." She said, Seth blinking in shock.

"After all of us… It can't be personal with us exactly then, rather with the lot of us as the cast." Seth said.

"Some deranged maniac… someone looking to hurt all of us." Roman said as Amanda checked her phone and saw a link sent to her.

' _Former Lucha Underground star John Morrison re-signs deal with WWE after a falling out with promoter Dario Cueto.'_

"Nah… he's twisted but wouldn't attack Alexa… it might be some of his loyal ones lashing out or someone else altogether." Amanda said after showing the others the article.

"So if it ain't the head of another promotion, who could it be?" Roman questioned.

At the same time, Hunter got a call from Lauren.

"Whoever it was that hospitalized Alexa also tried to jump Rollins." Lauren explained.

"Is he alright?!" Hunter asked.

"He's fine, I think his car got damaged but I called him out of there." Lauren answered.

"I'm glad you did, this person's escalating… some of the others are arming themselves with weapons and security systems." Hunter says, Lauren knowing that amping up personal safety was a normal reaction to this.

"Let them keep on with that. We're not far out of the country now, we'll be on it soon." Lauren said.

"Alright." Hunter says before they hang up, Lauren turning to Rat.

"Any more CCTV camera shots?" Lauren asked after sitting down.

"One from an angle across the street. Too out of focus to make out much more than that the attacker was light skinned." Rat said.

"We'll have to keep looking…" Lauren says, finding something… but it was a video of Enzo Amore being tossed from a nightclub and shouting at security, which made Lauren laugh.

"Do they even try to hide their lives after the cameras stop running?" Kyle asked.

"Some, I think. It looks like someone snuck up on these two." Rat answered, pointing out a slightly blurred photo of Amanda and Finn with Finn's left hand resting on Amanda's right side and her hand on his left shoulder with her on her tiptoes.


	5. Sticking Together

It was well past sunset when Amanda glanced outside, grabbing a baseball bat when she saw something… sneaking over, she crouched down as the nondescript car pulled to a stop.

At the same time, Finn walked back downstairs and towards Amanda.

"Out of sight!" Amanda hissed, yanking Finn down to where she was crouched as they watched the car doors open.

"This it?" Rat asked, pointing out the apartment.

"Given what happened, she's most likely jumpy…" Kerry answered.

"I'll go in first, I'm the one who's voice they've all heard. You two head out to the attack spots, see if you can find anything." Lauren said.

Rat and Kerry nodded before leaving, Lauren heading to the front door and knocking on it… when it opened, Finn was on the other side and let Lauren in as Amanda set the bat down.

"Where are the…" Lauren starts to ask.

"Roman and Seth are keeping an eye on the surrounding houses and somehow, Dean climbed up to the roof with a baseball bat with him." Amanda answered after Lauren closed the door.

"Defensive people… The two who came with me are searching the attack spots." Lauren said, leaning her back against the wall.

"I hope they find something." Amanda says before turning the walkie talkie back on. "Dean, are you asleep up there?!" She asked, Dean snapping out of his nap.

"I just dozed off for a second, kiddo!" Dean answered.

Out near where the first attack happened, Kerry noticed something amongst the blood.

"Hmm…" Kerry said after crouching down and examining it.

"Is that…" Rat started to ask, seeing that in the process of fighting back, part of one of Alexa's nails had broken off as indicated by the dark plum nail polish on it.

"Typically, women fight back by scratching or biting..." Kerry answered, turning the broken nail over to reveal blood as Rat called Lauren.

"Hey." Lauren answered.

"Any scratches on either of their arms or wrists?" Rat asked as Lauren looked at Amanda and Finn.

"None, why?" Lauren questioned.

"We've got a nail here, not false glue on stuff, a real torn off fingernail." Rat explained.

"She scratched whoever it was, most likely on their right wrist because they had the stolen wristband on their left." Lauren says as all three jumped when they heard a noise upstairs and Amanda bolted into the room with the bat… only to find that Dean had crashed onto the floor while climbing back in.

"Dean, you nearly gave me a damn heart attack!" Amanda said after helping Dean up and helping him downstairs.

"What was that noise?!" Roman asked after he and Seth ran in, Amanda pointing to Dean.

"Lauren, is everyone okay?!" Rat asked.

"Yeah, one of their friends just tripped and fell while climbing back in." Lauren said, Dean seeing Finn rubbing Amanda's left arm when it tensed up.

"Defensive but damn crazy people, they are… pretty much like the lot back home." Rat said.

"At times we can be…" Amanda says, hissing slightly when the stitches tugged again.

"My bet is the nerves are damaged in that shoulder." Kerry said in the background.

"Something like that, most likely. Keep looking around there, there's still the second spot but we might be able to get some DNA off that nail." Lauren said.

"That's what Kyle went to the hospital for, to tell Alexa." Rat said before they hang up.

It was a while later that Alexa opened her eyes when Kyle walked in.

"You're not a cop…" Alexa said sleepily.

"No… but we did find something, blood under your broken fingernail." Kyle says, helping Alexa sit up.

"From the look on your face, you don't think it's hers…" Alexa said after waking up completely.

"It's a real fingernail and she has all of hers still, and no scratches on her so it cuts her out of both ends." Kyle answered.

"I really did jump to conclusions this time, only seeing the wristband…" Alexa says, feeling terrible.

"You were jumped, it's a normal reaction… I'd be pissed too if I thought that it was someone angry at me for a specific reason." Kyle said as Murphy walked in.

"Hunter just… called. Just curious, why would a government branch hire kids?" Murphy questioned.

"Because no one would think bad of them." Kyle replied, not about to say too much about it as he knew Alexa was known to be reckless and have a temper to suit it.

Kyle left after that, reaching the second attack spot and seeing Bayley nearby.

"Are they all okay? I haven't heard from Mandy, Alexa or Seth today… not that I talk to Alexa very often." Bayley says.

"Yeah, they should be… what's that in your hand?" Kyle questioned after seeing that Bayley was holding something.

Looking closer, Kyle saw that it was a picture of Seth and Amanda.

"He keeps it with him… to remember the good days. Must've dropped it… I really hope those two get their friendship back." Bayley answered.

"Nothing's ever truly lost, not forever… And if something can be really remembered, it… Can come back." Kyle said.

"Yes it can…" Bayley says before the two left.

As the sun disappeared completely and nightfall set, Amanda was struggling to stay awake as she, Finn and Dean played poker.

"And I say you're bluffing when you say you've got a good hand…" Amanda says with a small smirk, Dean knowing that she saw his mouth form into a thin line.

"Need to work on that face, man." Lauren said, sat in the corner of the room while reading through some documents she'd assembled before heading over.

"Damn, she's good." Dean muttered, holding two fours and a three before putting them down.

"Don't think I don't see you peeking over my right shoulder, Finn." Amanda said, Finn muttering in Irish.

"I warned ya, she's a card shark." Roman said after walking downstairs.

"And a damn good one…" Lauren replied before looking at Amanda, who put the cards down to reveal a royal flush.

"Every damn time!" Finn muttered with a slight chuckle, him and Amanda hugging.

Looking at the Tv, they saw a news bulletin.

"...police are amping up patrols around the downtown Orlando areas after two disturbing attacks earlier. There are no solid leads on a suspect yet but…"

Amanda turned the Tv to El Rey network, the others seeing a slight shift from calm to tense and Finn rubbing his left hand up and down her right arm.

"Hey… we'll find whoever's doing this." Lauren said.

"Last time things were this unsettling was when a few hotel rooms were vandalized back in August. NYPD didn't have many leads to go on..." Amanda responded, Lauren turning curious.


	6. Nothing's Truly Random

_**8/22/15…**_

" _That ladder hit you right in the back, are you sure you're feeling alright, Mandy?" Finn asked as he helped Amanda into the room._

" _Yeah, just a bit sore…" Amanda answered, trailing off when she saw a tall shadowy figure in the room and flipped the light on. "Colin, what the hell happened?!" She asked when they saw that Colin Cassady was beaten up._

" _Caught someone trashing mine and Zo's room and when I chased the fucker down, I got hit with a fire extinguisher!" Colin answered as they helped him sit down._

" _Damn it, where are Enzo and Carmella?!" Amanda asked as Finn found the first aid kit and opened it, Amanda patching up the wounds._

" _Still at the bar…" Colin answered, Amanda seeing the scraped knuckles he had… she had seen him punch people before and they usually didn't get back up._

 _Standing up, she looked at the back of his head, seeing the knot left behind from the fire extinguisher._

" _Did you get a good look at anything about them, short, tall? Anything stand out?" Finn asked._

" _Not much but they did take something I was planning on giving to Carmella…" Colin said, noticing the look Amanda had as she realised that the bruises on the back of his knees were from someone shorter…_

 **Present time…**

"One of the cops just acted like we were making the whole thing up…" Amanda said after she finished explaining what happened. By that time, Rat, Kerry, Kyle and Bayley were at the apartment.

"We've heard of cops being like that before… hell, we've even been involved where a cop was investigating a murder _he_ committed." Kerry said.

"Any one of the other cops catch onto him?" Amanda asked as she carefully moved her left arm and a 'crick' echoed from it, Finn lightly rubbing her shoulder.

"He took the easy way out when they did." Rat answered, stopping from going into further detail.

Lauren and the others knew why too… and it was when everyone had settled into the rooms of the apartment or hotels nearby, Lauren sat down next to Rat.

"It would've triggered those memories… if I told her that he snapped his own neck with the weight machine. Did you see the look in her eyes when I said the cop was a coward towards the end?" Rat said quietly.

"The difference is that her friend had a blackout and couldn't live with that guilt… no one could." Lauren whispered.

"They couldn't… That cop was fully in control of himself, he knew what he was doing and he knew what it could've gotten him into." Rat said, in the same quiet tone.

Down the hall, Amanda was having trouble settling into sleep… she looked up when she felt Finn's right arm wrap around her back and saw his eyes open.

"I didn't mean to wake you…" Amanda whispered.

"You didn't… I knew you wouldn't sleep…" Finn said.

"I'm not one to… truly admit to being afraid. I just try to pretend that everything's okay… but you see right through that. What if this psycho kills one of us? What if they can't get them?" Amanda managed to say, Finn brushing her tears away before he carefully pulled her trembling body closer to him and lightly stroked her hair.

"They're the best out there… kids that endure military grade training, there's nothing that'll beat them down… And we're all too strong to let it beat us down too." Finn said, quietly and kissing her on the top of her head midway through.

"Being strong ain't always easy…" Amanda whispers, resting her head on his shoulder and her eyes feeling heavy as he noticed one of her scars, the one on the palm of her left hand. "Back then, I didn't see a way out of the grief… no one does in the direct aftermath of something traumatic."

It wasn't long after that when her eyes closed, Amanda falling into a deep sleep. Finn watched her for a few seconds before doing the same.

 **Meanwhile…**

"I couldn't imagine her mindset at the time… a young woman on the verge of growing up, facing the world… only for it to be snatched out and turned on its head." Kerry said as she and Kyle walked along the sidewalk in the well lit downtown area of Orlando.

"We were just in basic training in those days… no one knew the truth from what was being put out there through the press, all those theories. I think she… she just didn't want to hear it from people who didn't know her friend like she did. Her family." Kyle said before they stopped, seeing a drunken Enzo.

"Hey… have either of you seen Mandy? That little lady never turns down a night out!" Enzo slurred.

"Well she has tonight, it's been tough lately." Kyle said.

"I just worry… she doesn't normally relieves stress with drinking but has at times. I… wait, when did you get a second head?" Enzo said, his vision blurring again as he reached out to Kerry.

"Should we drop him off at the hotel or at the apartment?" Kerry asked.

"Not the hotel… Carmella punched me once when I crawled into her bed." Enzo says with a drunken laugh, trying to walk to his car but they stopped him.

Guiding him to the rental car, they got in and drove off with Enzo.

The snoring wasn't hers, Finn knew that when he woke up… it was loud whereas Amanda's was barely audible.

But as Finn got up while being as quiet as he could, he saw Enzo passed out on the floor… turning around, he saw a half asleep Amanda looking confused to see their friend on the floor.

"I don't remember calling him, do you?" Finn asked.

"No…" Amanda answered, trying to sit up but Finn stopped her as she let a tired yawn out and got her to lie back down.

"Cover your ears, lass…" Finn said after kissing Amanda on the side of her head. He stood up, dragged Enzo out by his feet and down the hallway…


End file.
